THE ASSAM TRIBUNE ANALYSIS

DATE – 8 MARCH 2021

For Preliminary and Mains examination

As per new Pattern of APSC

(Also useful for UPSC and other State level government examinations)

Answers of MCQs of 6-03-2021

1. B. Right to Privacy comes under Article 21

2. B. The 7th Amendment of Indian Constitution was needed to implement the recommendations of

the States Reorganisation Commission regarding the reorganization of the states on a linguistic

basis.

3. C. West Bengal

4. B. The 8th schedule of Constitution of India , originally had 14 languages.

5. B. Article 21 protects a person’s right to travel abroad under Indian Constitution.

MCQs of 8-03-2021

Q1. Who is the first woman to swim across the English Channel?

(A) Leila Seth

(B) Arti Shah

(C) Sushmita Sain

(D) Kiran Bedi

Q2. Who is the first woman climb Mount Everest?

(A) Kiran Bedi

(B) Bachhendri Pal

(C) Ujwala Rai

(D) Anna Chandi

Q3. Who is the first woman IAS Officer?

(A) Ujwala Rai

(B) Anna George Malhotra

(C) Kiran Bedi

(D) Anna Chandi

Q4. Who is first woman Chief Justice of a High Court?

(A) Kiran Bedi

(B) Leila Seth

(C) Kishori Kamari

(D) Laxmi Bai

Q5. Who is the first Indian woman President of UN General Assembly?

(A) Indira Gandhi

(B) Vijay Laxmi Pandit

(C) Kiran Bedi

(D) Leila Seth

CONTENTS

1. Women safety issues in State remain unaddressed: rights group ( GS 1 –Women Safety )

2. China & India should not ‘undercut’ each other, says FM Wang ( GS 2- International Relations )

3. India to become aatmanirbhar in 2 years, says Irani ( GS 3 – Indian Economy )

EDITORIALS

1. Achieving equality ( GS 1 – Women Empowerment )

2. Impacts of Covid-19 pandemic on women ( GS 3 – Health Related )

3. Assam elections: A game of pulling strings ( GS 5 – Election Related )

NEWS ARTICLES

Women safety issues in State remain unaddressed: rights group

Even as the State gears up to observe International Women’s Day, the concerns related to safety of

women in public places and even in their own homes are largely unaddressed in Assam.

Expressing its concern at the rising number of crimes against women in the State, a women’s

rights group North East Network has called for collective action from home up to the policy-

making level on incidents of crime against women.

“Assam has topped the chart of crimes against women in the country for the third consecutive year

as per the NCRB report of 2019. The crime rate registered per lakh women population was 62.4 in

2019. However, the rate was 58.8 in 2018. A comparison of National Family Health Survey

(NFHS) 4 and NFHS 5 data showed that Karnataka, Sikkim and Assam saw the maximum rise in

spousal violence in the last five years. There are many issues to be looked into, both from public

responsibility and state accountability viewpoints,” the North East Network said in an appeal to

the Chief Secretary, government of Assam.

As acid attack cases are on the rise in Assam, posing a great concern regarding women’s safety,

the rights body drew attention of the authorities to a case reported from Bharalumukh here in

September, 2020 and another incident in Dibrugarh in February, 2021.

“A Writ Petition was filed in the Gauhati High Court by North East Network and Nishamoni

Borah, a survivor of acid attack. We are waiting to hear its status. It may be mentioned that the

Supreme Court issued guidelines in 2013 to strictly monitor and regulate the sale of acid and

undertake adequate publicity measures to ensure that the survivors of acid attack are able to access

the provisions of the law aimed at aiding them. It is hoped that this petition will serve as a step

towards ensuring that the State fulfils its responsibility of preventing such heinous crimes,”

Anurita Pathak Hazarika, State Co-ordinator of NEN told The Assam Tribune.

“We also need swift and sensitive action to implement the revised Victim Compensation Scheme,

dated February 2019. Often the District Legal Services are plagued with fund crunch as learnt.

This leads to delay in release of funds to victims which could lead to death and disability of the

victim of acid attack. A regular coordination between the appropriate state departments and the

district courts is very essential, with gender responsive officials,” she added.

During and after the lockdown, Assam also witnessed a rise in domestic violence cases. NEN’s

Gramin Mahila Kendras recorded 27 such cases in three districts of Assam between April to July

2020. “We need independent Protection Officers (under the Protection of Women from Domestic

Violence Act) as District Social Welfare Officers are entrusted with multiple departmental duties,

the petition stated.

“Women in workplaces remain unsafe in both formal and informal sectors. A NEN study in 2019

conducted in coordination with Gauhati University showed that 44.2 per cent working women

faced sexual harassment in their workplaces in Assam. The local committees at the district level

and internal committees in various workplaces must be formed with directives of and follow-up

action by the State Nodal Agency,” the women’s rights group stated.

The NEN also advocated a State policy for women with adequate budgetary allocation,

convergence of concerned departments and a dedicated task force with highly gender- sensitive

individuals from both the government and the society.

China & India should not ‘undercut’ each other, says FM Wang

China and India should stop “undercutting” each other, shed mutual “suspicion” and create

“enabling conditions” by expanding bilateral cooperation to resolve the border issue, Chinese

Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday.

Calling the boundary dispute as not the “whole story” of the China-India relationship, Wang said

that both countries were friends and partners but they should shed suspicion at each other.

Answering a question at his annual press conference on the current state of India-China relations

following the tense standoff in eastern Ladakh since May last year and how Beijing viewed the

relationship going forward, he said it is important that both countries manage their disputes

properly and expand bilateral cooperation.

“The boundary dispute, an issue left from history, is not the whole story of the China-India

relationship.

“It is important that the two sides manage disputes properly and at the same time expand and

enhance cooperation to create enabling conditions for the settlement of the issue,” Wang said at

the virtual press conference held on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People’s

Congress, China’s Parliament.

In his lengthy answer, Wang, who is also a State Councillor, did not touch upon the recent

disengagement of troops from the most contentious north and south banks of the Pangong lake

area in eastern Ladakh after the 10th round of military-level talks between the two sides.

Wang’s comments on the border issue came days after he held a 75-minute telephonic

conversation with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during which the latter emphasised that

the disengagement of troops at all friction points is necessary to bring peace and tranquillity on the

border and for the development of bilateral relations.

Also on Friday, India’s Ambassador to China Vikram Misri met Chinese Vice Foreign Minister

Luo Zhaohui and called for completing the disengagement of troops from all areas in eastern

Ladakh, saying that it would help restore peace and tranquillity at the border and provide

conditions for progress in bilateral ties.

In his remarks, Wang pointed out that the world expects both China and India to safeguard the

common interests of the developing countries and advance multipolarity in the world.

“On many important issues, our positions are the same or close due to similar national realties.

Therefore, China and India are each other’s friends and partners, not threats or rivals,” the Foreign

Minister said.

“The two sides need to help each other to succeed instead of undercutting each other. We should

intensify cooperation instead of harbouring suspicion at each other,” he said. – PTI

India to become aatmanirbhar in 2 years, says Irani

Union Minister Smriti Irani today expressed confidence that India will become self-reliant or

aatmanirbhar in silk production in the next two years.

The Minister for Textiles and Women and Child Development said the government aims to

provide employment to over one crore people exclusively in the silk segment through the Krishi

Vigyan Kendra programme.

She said that India’s raw silk production increased 35 per cent in the last six years.

Six years ago, 70 lakh people in India were employed in this sector whereas 90 lakh people are

currently employed in the segment, she said.

The minister was addressing a programme to announce an MoU between the Textiles Ministry and

the Agriculture Ministry, an official statement said.

In a tweet, Irani said the “@TexMinIndia-@AgriGoI MOU will focus on establishing tree-based

agro-forestry models in sericulture & exploring possibilities of activities through Krishi Vigyan

Kendras (KVKs). This will enhance training, boost technology & create sustainable livelihood for

silk farmers/rearers”.

On the eve of International Women’s Day, the minister also distributed Buniyaad reeling machines

to women silk reelers with an aim to eradicate unhygienic and obsolete thigh reeling practice.

The Central Silk Board (CSB) under the Ministry of Textiles and the Ministry of Agriculture and

Farmers Welfare signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on a convergence model for

implementation of agro-forestry in the silk sector under the ongoing Sub-Mission on Agroforestry

(SMAF) Scheme, in the presence of Irani and Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers

Welfare Parshottam Rupala here.

Irani said that 8,000 women thigh reelers were identified for providing Buniyaad machines and

5,000 women have already been supported under Silk Samagra Phase I. She said that for

remaining 3,000 thigh reelers, fund provision has been made in order to eradicate unhygienic and

obsolete thigh reeling practice from the country.

The minister further stated that this MoU signing will increase the agricultural income from 20 to

30 per cent.

Referring to the PPE kits, in which India has become the second largest producer in the world, she

said that India has the capability of creating history in agro-technical textiles also. She said

farmers income has almost increased to 60 per cent by adopting agro-technical textile.

EDITORIAL

Achieving equality

March 8 is celebrated across the world as International Women’s Day. We, of course, do not have

an International Men’s Day, because the need for one is not felt by a cantankerously male-

dominated world! Since the beginning of last century there have been several demonstrations by

women in western societies demanding equal status with their male counterparts.

However, this day has been chosen for the fact that on March 8, 1917, women textile workers in St

Petersburg (formerly Petrograd) took to the streets to ask for equal pay with men, a red letter

occasion that witnessed the genesis of the Russian Revolution which transformed the course of

humanity.

It is indeed shameful and tragic that not much has changed for the fair sex in the century that

followed and even today they have to raise their voice for equality, as the theme for this year’s

International Women’s Day, ‘Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a Covid-19

world’, tellingly underlines.

No doubt organizations like the UN touts this day as also celebrating the social, economic,

cultural, and political achievements of women while highlighting the problems they face in day-to-

day life as well as in the professional and domestic environment. That this year Covid-19 has

exacerbated the problem is more in the nature of an afterthought, for women have perpetually been

on the receiving end of social inequality, pandemic or no pandemic!

It is only in some advanced societies that women have achieved a degree of success in wresting

decision-making powers in politics or business. But even there the stereotype of women being

merely ‘homemakers’ endures and, in real numbers, their participation in decision-making remains

imbalanced.

Sadly, gender parity has not reached its desired level in enlightened democracies like India, where

heinous practices like female foeticide, laws against so-called love jihad, or trials by khap

panchayats, etc., persist to negate advances made in educating the girl child. The situation in

certain blatantly male-dominated societies, in particular Islamic ones, is even direr for women, as

the jailing of activists fighting for women equality in Saudi Arabia reveal.

Terrorist groups such as the Islamic State or the Taliban consider women to be no more than

chattel, but even in slightly more progressive countries like the UAE they are subjected to harsh

restrictions. The overall picture can hardly be called rosy for women’s equality and it would take

time and patience on the part of activists to attain the sought for goal.

However, it has been shown that, given a level playing field, women excel men at many spheres,

including sagacious decision-making at senior strata of governments. Such a phenomenon gives

rise to the hope that in a more enlightened world of the future, women would not only be equal to

men, but perhaps even surpass them!

Impacts of Covid-19 pandemic on women

The Covid-19 pandemic has devastated our lives in an unprecedented way. It has not only

impacted our health but also affected our personal life, psychological well-being, social life and

economic sustainability. One can assume that the Covid-19 pandemic doesn’t discriminate against

gender, equally impacting the lives of men and women around the world, but this is simply not the

case. Although everyone has been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, women and girls seem to

be shouldering the burden more than their male counterparts.

New research has revealed that while men are affected more by the novel coronavirus than women

both in contagion and mortality, women are especially affected more than men by the economic

and social fallout during the Covid-19 pandemic. Across every sphere, from health to economy,

the impacts of the pandemic are exacerbated for women and girls.

The pandemic is deepening the pre-existing inequalities between men and women, exposing

vulnerability in personal, social and economic systems, which are in turn amplifying the impacts

of the pandemic.

Women are at the frontlines of the Covid-19 response, putting them at a higher risk of exposure to

the virus. They make up about 70% of the workers in the health and social sector globally and

constitute most health facility service staff. Women make up more than 85% of nursing personnel

and healthcare workers, and almost half of the doctors worldwide, who tend to have particularly

close and prolonged contact with Covid-19 cases, which puts them at heightened risk of infection

by the novel coronavirus, are women.

In fact, data shows that female health workers are infected by the virus twice the rates of their

male counterparts. The issue of inadequate and ill-fitting personal protective equipment (PPE) is

likely to be a factor here as most PPE kits are sized primarily for men in all countries. The health

and well-being of these female care workers must be a core part of the response to the outbreak.

Women must have a role in decision-making, which is presently less in this sector, then only the

female care workers will get the facilities.

Women are taking multiple responsibilities during the pandemic. The pandemic is increasing the

duties of the girls and young women especially those caring for elderly and ill family members, as

well as siblings who are out of school. The burden of unpaid care and domestic work has exploded

since the beginning of the pandemic, but women are continuing to shoulder the bulk of that work.

Schools and day-care closures, along with reduced availability of outside help, have led to months

of additional work for women. Mothers are taking on more childcare responsibilities. About 80%

of mothers now say they’re doing most or all of the housework and homeschooling. For working

mothers, this has meant balancing full-time employment with childcare and schooling

responsibilities. Multiple responsibilities have put several strains on the mental health of women.

About 57% of mothers now report depression and anxiety compared to only one-third of fathers. It

is a complex problem that’s going to take time to solve.

Global lockdowns during the early period of Covid-19 pandemic have led to several women and

girls being stuck at home with their perpetrators and incidents and reports of violence against them

have been on the rise globally. The National Commission of Women in India has also reported a

surge in the reported cases of violence during the pandemic in India.

As per the WHO, the global lockdowns left women and girls vulnerable to domestic, physical,

mental and sexual violence as it had cut them off from social support and services. The violence

on women has resulted in injuries and serious physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health

problems, including sexually-transmitted infections, HIV, and unplanned pregnancies.

Violence not only negatively impacts women but also their families, the community and the nation

at large. The local governments now must ensure accessibility and referral pathways to medical

and psychosocial support, and mental health services for survivors of sexual and gender-based

violence during that period.

The Covid-19 pandemic has major impacts on the health of girls and women. Restrictive social

norms, gender stereotypes, home quarantining and diversion of resources to respond to the Covid-

19 pandemic have limited women’s ability to access health services as well as make them more

susceptible to health risks.

Women’s access to maternal and reproductive health services has been severely impacted due to

Covid-19 emergency response and global lockdowns. Efforts to contain the outbreak have diverted

resources from routine health services including pre- and post-natal healthcare and contraceptives.

The Covid-19 pandemic must not be used as an excuse to restrict or rollback women’s access to

essential maternal and reproductive health rights, which must continue to be prioritized, funded

and recognized as life-saving.

Emerging evidence on the impact of Covid-19 pandemic suggests that women’s economic and

productive lives have been affected disproportionately and differently from men. Across the globe,

women earn less, save less, hold less secure jobs, and are more likely to be employed in the

informal sector.

Women have suffered more job losses than men under the Covid-19 lockdown, and their post-

lockdown recovery has also been much lower. As per a report, about 11.5 million women lost their

jobs compared to 9 million men during the pandemic globally. Some are calling it a ‘she-cession’.

Urban women reported substantial or total loss of income during the lockdown. Those employed

as domestic workers were laid off in large numbers; many went back to their villages, and most

have not returned since as they are not easily rehired.

Even the women who have managed to find jobs, or have re-established their trades as self-

employed workers, have not had an equivalent restoration of incomes. Poorer women with limited

or no revival in earnings have had to deplete their meagre savings. Many have become indebted,

and, in time, could be forced to sell their limited assets such as small animals, bits of jewellery, or

even their tools of trade, such as carts. A loss of assets would seriously jeopardize their economic

futures, and raises the spectre of deepening poverty, even destitution. This may indirectly increase

school drop of girl students and girl child marriage also.

The world is thinking today how to rebuild from the pandemic. The rebuild from the pandemic

cannot be gender blind as impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic is more on women. It needs to factor

in specific support needs for women as well.

Assam elections: A game of pulling strings

Much before the Citizenship (Amendment) Act caught the imagination of the rest of the country,

or Shaheen Bagh became a symbol of dissent, Assam was already enflamed with protests over the

Bill (now an Act). Unlike most political rallies which lure people from rural areas with easy cash

and the odd trip to town, these rallies were well-attended and saw the participation of people from

a cross-section of the society.

Internet bans and subsequent curfews followed, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal allayed

people’s fears by assuring that Assam would be kept out of it. That promise never materialized but

the Assamese people seemed to have forgiven it all, with the BJP’s roaring success in

the panchayat elections on the heels of the anti-CAA protests.

This also led to an important question: Was there really an alternative to the BJP for the people to

vote for? The AIUDF is widely seen as a party that exclusively caters to Muslim ‘interests’ and the

Congress was a weak shadow of its former self. The time was right for a political party built on the

values of the movement. Just as the AGP was born from the ashes of the Assam Agitation, which,

largely, had popular support in Assam, the new political outfits grew out of the anti-CAA

movement, the Anchalik Gana Morcha, Raijor Dal (RD) and the Assam Jatiyo Parishad (AJP).

The first has entered into an alliance with the Congress and the AIUDF for the upcoming

Assembly elections, while the latter two parties have joined hands as an anti-CAA forum to stall

the ruling BJP. There is little doubt that the RD and AJP were weary of the division of the anti-

CAA votes in Upper Assam, hence, their distance from the Cong-Mahajot alliance.

While the RD’s chief adviser Dr Hiren Gohain distancing himself from the party with a cryptic

note is an affirmation of his belief in fighting the larger enemy – the BJP, the RD saw it as

political suicide in Upper Assam where the AIUDF is seen as the party solely protecting the

interest of Bengal-origin Muslims. With this move, it is considered that the RD and the AJP,

despite being up against the ruling-BJP, may just prove to be more than a thorn in the flesh for the

BJP. The recent alleged attack on Lurinjyoti Gogoi’s convoy in Upper Assam is seen to be another

reflection of the discomfort of opposing forces towards the recent entrants.

The question though is: Would the RD-AJP combine be able to counteract the organizational

powerhouse that the BJP is, not to forget its financial clout? While the RD’s charismatic leader

Akhil Gogoi is slated to do well in Sivasagar from where he is contesting the election, it would

take more than that to stall the BJP in Upper Assam. Over the years, the RD’s popular base has

shifted towards Lower Assam, from where it mostly draws its followers now. Earlier, it had a firm

base in Upper Assam districts like Lakhimpur, thanks to its anti-dam initiatives and grassroots

resistance.

Additionally, although it has always enjoyed support from rural farmers, it has failed to charm the

middle-class, which has bonded well with the BJP over its promises of parivartan. The generation

before us may well have been concerned with larger issues but the present one is too busy thinking

of EMIs and IIT coaching classes to spare a thought about ‘revolution’, and thus, the BJP’s

promises of ‘Andolan-mukt Assam’ may well strike a chord with it (never mind the fact that

Assam BJP is choc-a-bloc with AGP leaders who have ridden high on the wave of Assam Accord

and ‘andolan’).

The AJP has the AASU behind it and may well prove to be emotive for voters in Upper Assam,

and there are many who feel betrayed by the BJP’s promises over the Assam Accord and the

CAA. But we are well-aware that translating that into votes may be a different ball game

altogether. Voters would need to see the combine as a real, viable alternative, and not a temporary

arrangement.

Coming to the Congress, though it has upped the ante on its social media initiatives, till now, the

BJP’s forte, if you compare the candidate list with the latter’s, a clear pattern emerges: despite

being in power, the BJP has taken its chances with new leaders, while the Congress has mostly

played safe. To its credit, in the Brahmaputra Valley, especially in middle and lower Assam, its

alliance with the AIUDF promises to pay rich dividends, albeit at the cost of polarization. The

BJP, quick to consolidate its voter base in lower Assam, has spared no effort to taint this alliance

with the ‘communal’ card, never mind its own machinations in the Barak Valley, where it is

attempting to do the exact same thing, only with Hindu Bengali voters.

Additionally, though systems such as direct benefit transfer in government schemes were initiated

by earlier Congress governments, they failed to capitalize on the same with the same zeal as the

latter BJP governments. Quick to understand the value of direct cash transfers to the rural

population, they launched new schemes such as Orunudoi and strengthened old schemes such as

widow/old-age pensions and PMAY.

This is not to say that the system has proven to be foolproof, just a reduction in the number of

middlemen who could siphon off the money meant for the rural populace. Also, the BJP has

successfully won over a huge chunk of Assam’s population, the Adivasi community, traditional

Congress voters, now firmly with the former. It has understood the number game – tribal votes +

the Adivasi community = a strong presence in Assam.

While the Raijor Dal was once aligned with Mishing politics, and the Adivasi community a

Congress stronghold, both the influences have waned over time; a Hindi heartland party, with little

presence in Assam, through not-so-subtle human engineering and the backup of the RSS, its

dedicated umbrella organization, is looking invincible.

Perhaps, an alternative to this could be ‘green politics’, a movement against privatization of

natural resources in Assam and the rights of local people over their own land, a concern which

would cut across religious and ethnic lines. More than anything, we need to protect our

environment and natural resources for only if we survive can an election be ever held.